Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-24

"a 1AA'' 49, - GU hN y I'm
III ., OF Christ ia the text thl, ,Aill ira
dat: with smilss any intelligent audit
tory. There are men like those biipd
guides o. the text who advocate oul,
those thinss III religious service which
draw the corners Of The mouth down,
and denounCe all those things which
have a tendency to draw the corners Of
the mouth up, and these mn will go
to installations and to presbyteries and
To conference and to associations, their
pockets full of fine sleeves TO strain out
the gnats. while in their WI churches
at home every Sunday there are fifty
people sound asleep. They make their
churches a great dormitory, and their
sOmniferous sermons are Il cradle, and
the drawled-out hymns a lullaby, while
some wakeful soul in a pew with h'r
fan keeps the flies off III unconscious per-
IONS approximate. Now, | say It is
worse to slt ep in church thar TO smile
IN church, for the latter implies at least
attention, while the former implies the
indifference of the hearers and the stu
pidity of the speaker. In old age. or
from physical intirmity, or from long
watching with the sick, drowslness
will sometimes overpOwer one; but
when a minister of the Gospel looks off
upon an audience and finds healthy
snd intelligent people struggling with
drowsiness. it is time for hum to give
out the doxology or pronounce the ben
ediction.
THE GREAT FAULT OF CHURCH SERVICES
to-day is not too much vivacity. but too
much somnolence. The one is an irri.
tating gnat that may be easily strained
out; the other Is q great, sprawling
and sleepy-eyed camel of the dry des-
ert. In all our Sabbath schools, in all
eur Bible classes, in all u pulpits we
need to brighten up our religious mes
sage with such Carist-like ~vlvacity as
we find In the text.
| take down from my library the BIZ
ographies of ministers and writers of
past ages, inspired and u%ninspired, who
have done the most to bring souls to
Jesus c. rist, and | find tnat without u
single exception they consecra'ed their
wit and their humor 20 Christ. FL ia
used it whsn he advised the 3 aiIte,.
As they could not make their god re-
spond; telling them TO call lou ier rs
their god might be sound asleepor gone
Il hunting. job used it when be -aid
to his -e'f-conceited comforters, ''W =
don VIII die with you" Christ not
only used it in the t X, but when He
ironically compliment q the purified
Pharisccs. saving. The wnole nee d
moi q phN sician," and when by one
word He described the cunning OF Her
od, saving $50 ye, and tell that fux. W
Matthew Henry's commentaries from
tue first page to the last coru c. ed
with humor rs summer clouds with b, AT
lightniug. John Bunyan's writio :
are ~ futl Of humor rs they are OF saw
ing truth, and there ia not an aged maa
here who has ever read
'PILGRIN's PROGRESS"
who does not remember that while
reading it he SIN led AS often as be
wept. ChrysostUm, George I'll 'roerr,
Robert South, John Wesley Georg,
Whitfield, Jer,my Taylor, Ro~laud
Hill, Ntttleton, George G. Fancy, and
Ill the mea of the past who greatly
advanced the kingdom of God coDs :
Grated their wit and their humyr to the
capse of Christ. 50 it has been in al
the ages, aud | sly TO these young i've
illogical students, who cluster in these
! services S ibbath by Sabbath, sharpen
your wits az keen as scvmitar-, anu
then take them into this holy war.
1t is a very short bridge between n
smile and a tear, a Suspension brlda c
from eye 10 lip, and it is soon cross q
over, Gnd Z smile ia sometimes just 81
sacred as a c2r. There il Is much re-
| ligiou, and | think a little more, in n
! cpring morning thar in a s~tarless mid,
night. Religious works without any
humor or wit in it 10 a banquet with u
side of beef, and that raw, and no con-
Iimcnts, and no dessert succeeding.
People will not sit down ut such "A bar
quet. BY all means remove ali fr'vol-
i,y md patbos and all lightness aud all
vulgarity strain them out through tht
sieve of holy discrimination; but. on
the other hand, beware Of that monster
which o~vershadows the Chri~tit'
church to-day, conventionality. comins
IN from the Great Sahara desert OF
Ecciesiasticism, having on it, back ,
hump of sanctimonious gloom, an,
vehe meutly refuse to swallow tina
camel.
CHRISTIAN CAREFULNESS.
Oh, how particular a greet mau.
people are about the intinite> NAL
VIII lr they are quite reckless . tn
mtgnitudes. What did Cnrist SAY
Did He not excoriate he people in II
tine who wer. 80 careful to wa-h thri
hands before Il meal but did not wt~'
their hearts? 1t is II bad ThlDg I q hav
~ clean hands; ii is n wur-r thing &
have an unciean heart. How man,
peo be there are in II time wh
are VERY anxious tina. after their d'at
they shall be burr d with ih,ir fre
!, toward the east. and not at all anxion
that during their whole lie they shout
iace in the right direction 81 thnt IN,
! shall come No in the resurrection /,
. the just whichever way they are burier
How many there are chiefly aDX'ou
that a minister of the Gospel -hall com
in the line OF apostolic succession, n.
y e